Machine-to-machine communications (M2M) is a type of networked application and service with machine-to-machine intelligent interactions being the core. M2M communications may implement data communications without human intervention by embedding wireless or wired communication modules and application processing logic in machines, so as to satisfy a user's so-called “informatization” requirements in the aspects such as detecting, directing and dispatching, and data collection and measurement. A conventional M2M system architecture may include M2M terminals, an M2M gateway, an M2M service platform, and an M2M application platform, where the M2M terminals may comprise a sensor, a microcontroller, and the like. The M2M terminals may be connected to the M2M gateway by using stub sensor network technology (for example, ZigBee and Bluetooth) and further connected to the M2M service platform through the M2M gateway using a remote access technology (for example, a 2G/3G wireless cellular network). Moreover, M2M application platforms (for example, electric meter reading and intelligent traffic) may acquire, through the M2M service platform, data collected by the M2M terminals, or remotely control and manage the M2M terminals in a sensor network.
The management of a remote device is an important function of an M2M system, that is, the M2M application platform or an M2M service provider may be required to perform daily management and maintenance of the M2M terminals in the stub sensor network remotely through the M2M service platform and the M2M gateway. Because the stub sensor network generally performs networking in a self-organized manner, sometimes it is difficult to predict a network topology and a working status of a device. Therefore, an administrator would need to discover a topology in order to adjust the topology. The purpose of topology discovery is to find which devices are contained in the sensor network and the communication connection relationships among the devices through a remote network topology management function. The topology adjustment is used to perform proper manual adjustment when necessary.
Conventionally, remote device management technologies based on a wide area network mainly include device management (DM) regulations defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The technology can implement remote management for the M2M gateway through operating management object (MO) data on the M2M gateway, but still does not support remote topology management for a stub sensor network through the M2M gateway. In another aspect, in the field of sensor networks ZigBee gateway device regulations define a remote network management technology based on an Internet Protocol (IP) bearer. The technology can provide a simple remote ZigBee network device and an operation method for service discovery but does not directly provide topology information of the sensor network and a topology adjustment method. The above function can only be implemented by further combining other ZigBee management commands, where the operation method is complicated. Other sensor network protocols (for example, Bluetooth) do not provide a method for remotely managing a topology through a gateway.